Australia’s tough deportation policy leaves no room for second chances Australian immigration and asylum

Mr. “Missy” Sixtus was only seven years old when she moved to Australia, too young to know she would become an Australian citizen. When she was a teenager, she started hanging out around the rough crowd.

“I laid siege,” says Sixtus. “I’m starting to get in trouble.”

She was 18 years old when she was found guilty of assault, for which she spent a month in prison. The federal government then deported her alone New Zealand in accordance with the Migration Act of Australia.

These laws give the immigration minister what is called “God’s” forces over people born overseas in Australia. The minister can revoke their visas for a variety of reasons by sending them into custody and then back to where they were born.

Chapter 501 recently had a heated debate. Earlier this year, the coalition sought “greater discretion” to abolish visas through character test. Labor said the government already had the power to abolish visas at will, but eventually brushed off the changes through the House of Representatives. They remain non-legislative as there is no time left for a Senate debate before the election.

The government cancels visas increasing the number of people especially for New Zealand, which is very critical of the laws. People are often sent to countries they hardly know, isolated from family and friends, and sometimes do not even speak the language.

This happens not only under the s501, but also the s116, which again uses a character test.

It has a long list of reasons why a minister can revoke a visa, including if the holder “maybe, will be, or mayberisk ”for the Australian public.

Sixtus revoked her permanent visa under s116. She is still trying to get home, to Australia.

She says she was never a threat to society and it came as a complete surprise when she was taken into immigration arrest a month after her release from prison.

“I didn’t know what to do. Border troops arrived… I: “What the hell is going on? I didn’t know it could happen, ”she said.

She admits that she “spoiled”, but says that she was frightened and confused by the process.

From the beginning of 2019 to the end of 2021, 1,090 New Zealand citizens were deported from Australia, of which 1,029 were considered to have left voluntarily.

Asked whether the word “voluntary” was used when someone was offered a choice between being detained and leaving the country, the ABF said: “New Zealanders detained as illegal non-citizens can ask to return voluntarily at any time. time. Those who do not wish to leave voluntarily may be detained and deported from Australia. “

Previous statistics Published under the Freedom of Information Act, show that in the five years to the end of 2019, 36,420 s116 were abolished, including 463 minors.

Chapter 116 is what it was used for deportation tennis player Novak Djokovic.

Philippa Payne, a New Zealand rights activist, says the deportation process is “morally bankrupt.”

“Under s116 you can apply again [for an Australian visa] in three years, ”says Payne. «[But] I don’t know anyone who has succeeded in this application, because they then cancel them under 501. It’s morally bankrupt, and it completely destroys the family. “

Sixtus is now 23 and he is trying to make a living in Auckland by studying business and marketing. It was not easy.

“My family is still in Australia. I was alone all this time, I was moving, ”she says.

“I’m trying to adjust to life, get a job.”

But she misses her family and life in Australia.

“In fact, I was deported for my mother’s birthday. It’s so hard for her because she can’t come all the time, “she said, adding that the situation was complicated by Kovid.

“I grew up there. I’m more of an Australian … I still really miss him. I miss my life there, ”she says.

“We are all changing. We all need to have a chance to prove ourselves. ”